


Midnight Gazes

by astralfreckles



Category: Girl Meets World
Genre: F/M, Falling In Love, New Year's Eve, Party
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-30
Updated: 2016-12-30
Packaged: 2018-09-13 12:11:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9123040
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astralfreckles/pseuds/astralfreckles
Summary: “Noise suddenly fills the room as kids cheer, friends clink glasses, and couples kiss, but Riley and Farkle’s gaze isn’t broken, not even for a second.”





	

**Author's Note:**

> A New Year inspired fic!
> 
> I have had this idea in my head since last New Year, and now I finally got around to writing it out. The scene is inspired by my daydream of how I would feel if I suddenly saw a former love interest in a crowd of people. It’s also inspired by the song Love Found Me by New Heights since I was obsessed with it around this time last year. 
> 
> Also, Riley could be considered OOC at the beginning of this fic, and finally, thank you so much to Ken (@riarklequeens on Tumblr) for looking this over. Love you! ♥

Riley’s sitting in a room with chestnut brown walls. After an hour of staring at them, that’s what she’s decided is the exact color. Glittery decorations and bright streamers hang all along them, providing a sharp contrast to the dark background. The room she’s in is filled with loud music and people talking animatedly about their wishes, regrets, and resolutions.

It’s New Year’s Eve, and Riley's not feeling particularly high-spirited, even in light of the holiday.

She’s at a party hosted by her parents’ friends. It’s not that she doesn’t want to be at the party. She honestly feels quite lucky to have Maya with her. When they arrived, she was the one who pulled Maya around the room, happily introducing themselves and making small talk, but Riley can’t help but feel a little disappointed. There’s something missing from the party, something that she was secretly hoping would be there. Maybe that’s why her eyes keep unconsciously drifting back to the front door every time it opens.

After graduating high school a year ago, Riley had to say goodbye to a lot of her friends who were moving out of the city. She had expected to feel sad to see her friends go, but what she wasn’t anticipating was a longing feeling months later. Not for all of her friends, though. Just one. What she truly didn’t expect was to miss Farkle so much after he moved to Stanford, and the fact that she hasn’t seen him since last Christmas is, to her surprise, slowly driving her _insane_. She knows it’s neither of their faults for not keeping in touch. They’re busy. Life gets in the way. It happens.

But sometimes, she finds herself unintentionally daydreaming about the last time they saw each other; over and over again it loops in her mind. She remembers every last detail of that cold December night, from the shade of blue his eyes were to the color of his scarf, a striped orange and beige. And she so vividly remembers that there was an intensity to his hug and a look of worry in his stare as he said goodbye, as if he feared this exact situation. It’s like he somehow knew they would lose touch, but he still let her go anyway. Thinking back to that day reminds Riley that she will always be both amazed with and resentful of the ways of fate.

Deep in her thoughts, Riley only then notices that Maya is trying to hand her a glass of champagne, and she takes it as a clue that midnight must be approaching soon. She looks at the glass and swishes the liquid around a few times before taking a sip. Then, she looks to her left where there is an empty seat and takes another sip, but much longer this time. She won’t deny, to herself at least, that she wishes it wasn’t empty.

Riley shifts her gaze from the seat back to the glass, but then she immediately feels her attention being drawn somewhere else in the room. She’s suddenly overcome with nervous excitement, the kind that builds up to a moment of anticipation before something big happens. It compels her to search the room frantically with her eyes, scanning every face and turning her head in every direction, and for what seems like the hundredth time that night, her eyes land back on the front door just in time to see it open.

Jen and Stuart Minkus walk in, smiling and greeting the hosts. Riley’s eyes widen, surprised by their presence. She didn’t remember her parents saying that they would be coming to the party. She keeps her eyes fixed on the door, realizing that if they’re here, then maybe…

 _There he is_ , crossing over the threshold of the door. It’s what she’s been waiting for.

It’s Farkle.

She found him. Her heart had been searching, _longing_ , and she finally found him. As she looks at his tall figure, she realizes it isn’t just tonight that her eyes had sought him out. In her mind, she thinks back to other parties and gatherings she had attended in the past year and comes to the conclusion that she had been doing it for _months_. Every crowded room she was in and every time she walked down the street, she was looking for him, hoping that he would somehow be there instead of all the way across the country. But now, he’s standing right across the room, surrounded by a group of people and completely unaware that she’s staring at him.

Riley’s name is being called from the other direction, but the voice is muted in her head because she has completely tuned out everything except for Farkle. It catches his attention, though, and at the sound of her name, his head turns, and his eyes meet with hers. Even at the slightest hint of her presence, he seeks her out, and even in a room full of people, he finds her immediately.

Midnight is approaching with only five more minutes to go, but it might as well never arrive as the two of them stay frozen in place, taking in the sight of each other after so long. Riley feels like even if she sat there all night looking at him, it wouldn’t make up for the year they lost. She would have to memorize every detail about him all over again.

She sees the way he gapes, shocked by her image, and she’s equally stunned. Farkle being so close now makes Riley’s feelings for him come to life in a chain reaction that runs through her whole body. It starts with butterflies in her stomach, her heart beating faster, her breath hitching, and finally her eyes watering. It’s overwhelming, but she welcomes the feeling as it passes through her. She hasn’t felt something so real in a very long time.

Noise suddenly fills the room as kids cheer, friends clink glasses, and couples kiss, but Riley and Farkle’s gaze isn’t broken, not even for a second. In the midst of the celebration surrounding her, Riley smiles and gets up from the couch, and Farkle responds silently with a smile of his own.

As midnight strikes, the first steps they take in the New Year are toward each other.


End file.
